#ComposersWhoScore: 13 SOCAN members nominated for Iris Awards

Story by Marie-Michèle Bouchard | Thursday April 29th, 2021

On April 26, 2021, Québec Cinéma unveiled the finalists for its Iris Awards, and announced two new awards this year – Best Original Score, Documentary Film and Best Short Film, Documentary – for a total of 30 honours.

Thirteen SOCAN #ComposersWhoScore are finalists in the categories Best Original Score and Best Original Score, Documentary Film.

The 2020 nominees in the Best Original Score category are:

  • Guido Del Fabbro, Pierre Lapointe, for Le Club Vinland – Publishers: Épépiphonie Inc., Productions Avenida Inc.
  • Jean-Phi Goncalves, Éloi Painchaud, Jorane Pelletier, for Target Number One – Publisher: peermusic Ltd.
  • Martin Léon, for My Salinger Year – Publisher: Méloscope
  • Olivier Alary (SACEM), for La nuit des rois
  • Patrice Dubuc, Gaëtan Gravel, for Souterrain

In the Best Original Score, Documentary category, the nominees are:

Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette’s film La déesse des mouches à feu leads the nominations, with 15. Among the other films with multiple nominations are Souterrain, directed by Sophie Dupuis, and Le Club Vinland, directed by Benoit Pilon, which are nominated 13 times each. Philippe Falardeau’s My Salinger Year is nominated 11 times.

The 22nd edition of the Gala Québec Cinéma will be produced in compliance with current health measures and broadcast live from Radio-Canada’s Studio 42 on Sunday, June 6, 2021 at 8:00 p.m. ET on ICI TÉLÉ. The Gala Artisans, in its sixth edition, will also be produced in compliance with health regulations, and broadcast live from the Ausgang Plaza on Thursday, June 3, 2021, at 8:00 p.m. on ICI ARTV.

For the full list of nominees of the 2021 Gala Québec Cinéma, visit the organization’s website. Good luck to all the nominees!

SOCAN Statement on Bill C-10

Story by SOCAN | Thursday April 29th, 2021

When Canadians are engaged in a national discussion on how to support our songwriters and creators in the digital age, that’s positive.

SOCAN has been engaged in this discussion for many years, and we applaud the Government’s commitment to ensuring that the ways we support Canadian Content adapt and evolve with the technology Canadians use to access it.

Legislation has always been, and will always be, a complex exercise involving the balancing of many competing interests, and many credible points of view on a wide range of regulatory options.

Legislation that touches the lives of every Canadian, every day, will always be even more challenging.

Bill C-10 achieves the right balance by bringing digital media platforms that act like broadcasters under the umbrella of the CRTC, just like traditional broadcasters.

What Bill C-10 does not do is bring individual social media users under that umbrella, notwithstanding some inaccurate and reactionary headlines we have seen this week.

SOCAN believes that digital media platforms that act like broadcasters should make an equivalent contribution as traditional broadcasters when it comes to supporting and promoting Canadian music. This is long overdue.

SOCAN does not believe that individual Canadians who use social media platforms to stay connected with their friends and families should be subject to regulation. Full stop.

But the platforms they use should be, especially if their business model generates revenues from the use of copyrighted music.

SOCAN urges all parties to support C-10, to ensure that digital media platforms that generate many millions of dollars every year from the inspiration and artistry of Canadian creators give back to those creators in a predictable, transparent, and equitable manner, just as many other countries have done.

“Digital platforms, including social media, play a huge role in the discovery of music, but return three to five times lower royalties than traditional media,” said SOCAN’s Interim Chief Executive Officer Jennifer Brown. “We don’t think that’s fair. A level playing field for all digital media is the right way to go.”

Photo by courtesy of / courtoisie de l’APCM, Left to right/De gauche à droite : Daniel Lavoie, Jean Malavoy

Trille Or Awards 2021: Daniel Lavoie, Jean Malavoy honoured

Story by Marie-Michèle Bouchard | Thursday April 29th, 2021

The Association des professionnels de la chanson et de la musique (APCM) has announced the recipients of the Hommage and Bâtisseur Paul Demers awards at the Gala Trille Or 2021, which has been postponed to June 19, 2021.

Daniel Lavoie receives the Special Achievement (Hommage) Award, a public tribute to an artist who’s contributed to the Francophone music industry of Western Canada or Ontario; achieved overall success in their career; participated in the development of Francophone culture on the national and international scenes; and has influenced the next generation.

Lavoie is a singer-songwriter, actor, and poet. He’s also a Francophone from Manitoba, and a source of pride for Franco-Manitobans and Francophones in Western Canada, and considered one of their spokespersons. He’s written for many other artists, like Bruno Pelletier, Roch Voisine, Céline Dion, and many more. To date, Lavoie has released 24 albums.

Jean Malavoy receives the Paul Demers Builder (Bâtisseur) Award, which honours a music industry stakeholder who’s been involved in, and supportive of, Francophone music in the West, or in Ontario. This award recognizes a stakeholder who’s had a long-term impact on the music industry through their work and actions.

Malavoy has held several key positions in Canada’s Francophone communities. As Deputy Head of the Franco-Ontarian office at the Ontario Arts Council between 1978 and 1991, he was the driving force behind many of Francophone organizations still standing today. After 12 years at the OAC, Malavoy was involved in various positions in his community: Executive Director of the Conseil des organismes Francophones de Toronto, Program Manager of the Ontario Trillium Foundation, Executive Director of La Nouvelle Scène in Ottawa, and many others. His last mandate was as Director of the Vanier Museopark.

The Bâtisseur Paul Demers Award will be presented posthumously to Malavoy at the Industry Evening of Trille Or, on May 28, 2021. Twenty-one awards will be presented during the gala.

The 11th Hommage Award will be presented to Lavoie at the Gala Trille Or on June 19, 2021, which will be broadcast on Unis TV. The final 10 Trille Or awards for 2021 will be handed out during that event.

Due to the current public health situation in Ontario, the APCM has announced the postponement of the televised Trille Or Gala, originally scheduled for May 29, 2021, to Saturday, June 19, 2021, at 8:00 p.m. ET on Unis TV. The professional activities (conferences, workshops, networking), as well as the Industry Gala, will be held as planned from May 26-28, 2021, since they’re presented online. Only the televised gala has been postponed.